I've posted quite a bit on how dominionist groups--in particular the Assemblies and its own front the FGBMFI--like to set up "Business ministries" and front companies specifically for purposes of "bait and switch" evangelism, not to mention setting up "parallel economy" alternatives for dominionists. The Assemblies in particular also has a habit of partnering with known dominionist-friendly corporations.

One of the things News Media Corporation is *very* careful not to mention on its website is the fact that it's being used as a front for "bait and switch evangelism" and support of dominionism--for *that*, you have to go to a little magazine called Today's Pentecostal Evangel which is published by none other than the Assemblies of God, aka the world's first dominionist denomination...

Mind you, this is by *far* not the only piece of work like that in the pages of that magazine--the right-hand bar actually has something like eight years of archives where the actual face of Assemblies-style dominionism is brought to the world to see via interviews with folks in the dominionist movement. It gives you all too much of an insight on just *how* dominionists plan to take over the country...a terrifying, frightening glimpse.

And so, like the news-story about Creationism in the UK, I'll share an article from our New Zealand news service in the same spirit; it's crucial to understand Christian fundamentalism is a creeping global phenomenon. Much like bird-flu, perhaps...

Quote:'Pastor Milne said Ms Bradford's drive was a sign that "spiritual warfare is hotting up in New Zealand".

He said people who rejected God were "under the control of Satan" because they interfered with the biblical responsibility of the parent to discipline their child.'

That's right. There's a bill coming up which will curtail the ability to abuse their child in the name of 'discipline'. And this is part of Satan's plan how now?

This NYT article talks about the evangelical version of 'sexual purity' and how it's being seeded in the military along with some very nasty misogyny:

Sex and the Faithful SoldierBy JOHN LELAND

ADD another item to the well-equipped soldier's duffel. An evangelical radio ministry has developed a book kit meant to help soldiers protect their sexual purity, and is raising money to send 6,000 kits to chaplains who have requested them.

The kits, from New Life Ministries, which broadcasts on 150 stations nationally, is intended to promote Bible-based abstinence from pornography, adultery, nonmarital sex and masturbation. "Your goal is sexual purity," the authors write. "You are sexually pure when no sexual gratification comes from anyone or anything but your wife."( Read more... )

Jeff Sharlet: Are U.S. military chaplains promoting homophobia and discrimination against non-Christian women on taxpayer time? The New York Times reports that New Life Ministries plans to send 6,000 sexual abstinence kits, titled "Every Soldier's Battle," to U.S. military chaplains who've requested them as counseling tools for soldiers. The Times notes that the kits are a spin-off of the bestselling "Every Man's Battle" series, but reporter John Leland doesn't bother to investigate the source of kits, books created to help conservative evangelical men erase lust, masturbation, wet dreams, and women who don't conform to the books' vision of "male headship" from their lives. Women, meanwhile, must help men by wearing chaste clothing and not bending over in their presence. Married women must provide for their husband's satisfaction at regular intervals, regardless of their own desires.

Last spring, I wrote about the series for Rolling Stone: "The authors of the books hold up the books of Joshua and Ezekiel as armor against non-Christian women. 'Mixture,' they write, 'can destroy a people.'" The authors refer to sexually active, unmarried women with the name "Betty Jo 'B.J.' Blowers," and consider homosexuality a satanic deception to be cured through vigorous Bible study. According to the Times, "Sgt. First Class Daniel L. Roberts, a chaplain's assistant at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, requested 200 kits for troops in basic combat training." Another chaplain's assistant, Michael Music, led 100 men through the program while stationed in Iraq.

The Times seems to find it all amusing, if perhaps helpful to soldiers struggling to keep their marriages together. The peddlers of the "Every Man's Battle" series, meanwhile, must appreciate this infographic from the paper of record, tongue so firmly in cheek that it functions as advertising you couldn't buy.

I had originally intended this as a reply to this post but due to the length of the post I am actually going to set up a dedicated post for this (also so, hopefully, it doesn't get lost in the clutter).

Dominionism, both in and of itself and in the religious and other groups associated with dominionism, share enough characteristics with groups traditionally considered coercive groups (or "cults", in the case of coercive religious groups) that the groups associated with dominionism, and likely the entire dominionist movement itself, are better seen as a coercive religious group *in and of itself* rather than as a strictly political movement. It is my belief (as a walkaway and as an informal researcher) that it is likely impossible to fully understand dominionism (as a political movement) unless one sees the political aspects of dominionism in a larger context of a general coercive mindset existing in the "parent" groups of the dominionist movement.

In this post, I will directly compare lists of coercive tactics used by four groups active in research of coercive groups (FACTnet's summary of research by Dr Margaret Thaler Singer, info from Rick Ross Institute, info from Steven Hassan's "Freedom of Mind", and lists from the International Cultic Studies Association (a group, ironically, that had to change its original name, the American Family Foundation, due to confusion with the dominionist group American Family Association)) in comparison with coercive tactics used in the dominionist community at large and with specific aspects of the dominionist community in particular.

Two persons--neither of which are from the Hartselle, AL area--interrupted a Mass held at a Hartselle-area Catholic church and attempted to destroy the altar claiming they did so "on orders from God".

The article does not detail which churches they are affiliated with, but the description of theology by the two persons (being held in jail) indicate they may be involved in the "third wave"/"spiritual warfare" flavours of dominionism. There are also indications the reason they destroyed objects in the church is on account they saw people in the church as "worshipping objects".

The second article is especially telling in regards to the potential involvement of dominionist groups into "deliverance ministry/spiritual warfare", as they are reported to have harassed a coffeeshop owner (who has also been subjected to hate speech due to claims he is having Wiccan meetings in the coffeeshop--see http://www.hartselleenquirer.com/articles/2005/09/28/news/news1.txt for further details) and who in fact were called to the area because of the article re the coffeeshop in the Hartselle Enquirer.

I am noting this as a) this sort of theology is very common in dominionist circles (in that, especially in regards to dominionist groups practicing "third wave" and/or "latter rain" theology it is literally preached that people are being used as "God's puppets" to institute a theocracy) and b) I intend to post a very large post to this community later today regarding dominionism (and in particular the groups associated with dominionism) as coercive groups.

They do have an EZBoard web-board and one of the sub-boards, "Azusa Street Survivors", is particularly relevant as the people there post info on dominionist groups that are often inaccessible save *from* walkaways from those groups (and is a good spot for even non-walkaways to get intel on those groups).

For those of us who are walkaways from dominionist groups, there are five private forums (that one must write a moderator for access to) for general recovery, ex-dominionist Christians, family members and friends of walkaways, "freethought" walkaways (pagan/Buddhist/atheist/eclectic/etc.) and kids who are walkaways.

One of the groups that is now being specifically mentioned (including in Bush's speech last night) is the Heritage Foundation. They pass themselves off as a "conservative think tank" but are linked with multiple dominionist/Avengelical groups, including a secretive group called the Council for National Policy:

1. Waiver on environmental rules2. Eliminaton of capital gains tax3. Private ownership of public schools4. The heirs of any victim worth more than $1.5 million should be exempt from the estate tax.

(This is part of a dominionist platform, as an aside; the "waiver on environmental rules" is supported by dominionist because they either see environmental destruction as something that will make Jesus come back faster, or (in the case of those dominionists into "spiritual warfare/deliverance ministry" type stuff) they actually see environmentalism as a form of devil worship. Dominionists also support destruction of public school systems in the hope that children will be forced to turn to sectarian means to be educated (including dominionist-run homeschooling and dominionist-run private schools; it is ALREADY difficult to find support for homeschooling that is not controlled by dominionists)).

Here's an NPR segment about the slow and not so stealthy enroachment of specific religions in the military.

Walk into just about any Christian bookstore and you are likely to find a copy of The Soldier's Bible. The leather cover comes in a choice of green for the Army, black for the Navy, burgundy for the Marines, blue for the Air Force and -- just released -- blue for the Coast Guard.

These are handsome Bibles with gilt edges, just the right size for a service member to stuff into his or her pack. Printed on the front is the emblem for the appropriate branch of the armed services. And that's a problem.

One could be excused for thinking that this Bible was put out by the military. But it's not. Holman Bible Publishers of Nashville developed, printed and distributes The Soldier's Bible at its own expense.

Still, critics think the emblem on the front brings up legal questions -- and may even violate the Constitution's ban on government-established religion.

What's especially troubling to some is that this particular Bible is clearly evangelical. Holman Bible Publishers is owned by the Southern Baptist Convention. On the first few pages, there's a "Plan for Salvation" that says you must be baptized as an adult believer to have eternal life.

Printed in the back are inspirational words from military leaders such as Lt. Gen. William Boykin. He raised a few eyebrows back in 2003, when he said of his battle against a Muslim warlord in Somalia, "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol."

Evangelicals are playing an increasing role in the military. Department of Defense statistics show that 40 percent of active duty personnel are evangelical Christians. Sixty percent of taxpayer-funded military chaplains are evangelical.

"It does raise the question of whether we are, effectively, as a country -- with tax dollars -- promoting a particular evangelical religious viewpoint," said Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Add to that a privately funded evangelical Bible that looks official, and critics say the military has a problem that needs to be addressed.

I'd say they have a problem. A graph on the site demonstrates that the ratio of evangelical chaplains to other mainline and non-Christian religions is quite high: 60 percent of the chaplain corps is Evangelical- mostly Assembly of God. This is no accident. There has been a deliberate and ongoing push to populate the Chaplain corps of the military with AoG and Pentecostal chaplains, who are also the frontline of many Dominionist beliefs.

As reported by several blogs, including http://nonprophet.typepad.com/nonprophet/2005/05/ted_haggard_don.html, there apparently was a *very* interesting memo sent from the head pastor of New Life Church (a dominionist church in Colorado Springs, Colorado directly associated with the USAF religious coercion scandal and also at the heart of much of the dominionist initiatives out of that town).

The most interesting bit on the letter, at least to me, is how they actively are encouraging people to hide the fact the church is into deliverance ministry/"Kingdom Now" theology (the bits about not telling the media about "seeing demons" et al) and hiding the fact it's into the whole pentecostal movement/"latter rain"/"third wave" type stuff *period* (the bits about warning about "dancing in the spirit" et al)

This is a rare example from the "inside" on how dominionist groups actively promote a public/private face; this is, however, at the same time not isolated (it is known that Family First, Australia's dominionist political party (and de facto political wing of the Australian AoG), has published similar advisories to its workers (shown when one slipped up if asked if lesbians should be burned at the stake); it is also known that many dominionist denominations have different guidelines for members "in the in crowd" as part of "stealth evangelism" or simply hiding its true theology from the general public).

a truly WEIRD article by a man named Lou Engle concerning the resignation of Sandra Day O'Connor. includes: prophetic dreams, the merging of church and state, convoluted logic, and spiritual warfare-- all the things we love best about our dominionist friends.

Two years ago, on Fourth of July, I was prophetically led to decree Psalm 2 over the Supreme Court justices: "Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, o judges of the earth..." On that very same day, Sandra Day O'Connor was in Philadelphia to dedicate the then-new Constitution Museum. As she pulled ribbons to reveal a massive mural hanging above the stage, a heavy metal beam that was part of the framework of the mural came crashing down above her head. Only stopping inches above her head, O'Connor exclaimed that the fallen beam could have killed her.

I felt that the Lord was saying that because most of the Supreme Court justices were not grounded in truth, they were morally lightweight and unable to bear the framework of the Constitution as articulated by our Founding Fathers. I knew that the Lord was shouting that He was ready to deal with the renegade courts and the issue of abortion.

[...]Finally, last night, one of the leaders of the Justice House of Prayer had a dream where President Bush was in his room and had two pairs of shoes in front of him. One pair was dress shoes and the other was a pair of cowboy boots. In the dream, the President was going somewhere and was asking us which pair of shoes he should wear. We answered, "the cowboy boots...the cowboy boots..." We believe that this dream is saying that the houses of prayer must lift this man up day and night in intercession so that he can be the man that God has called him to be.

[...]We are calling for believers all across America, and especially those on the East Coast, to come rush to this battle, not only in prayer and fasting, but in holy activism.[...] The next few weeks are critical – come to DC and engage in this battle. This day, we fight!

Here's a News story about a church in Rochester that is happily practicing "Spiritual Warfare"- with all the trappings...

Spiritual Warfare

Evan Dawson (Rochester, NY) 07/04/05 - You have probably never seen an army missile used in a church service or a pastor dressed in fatigues, but that is exactly what you'll find Sundays at New Born Fellowship Christian Center in Rochester, where church leaders have decided to conduct a new program called Spiritual Warfare.

Pastor Warren Meeks knows it's shocking to see a missile inside a church, or to see a house of worship set up like a jungle of war.

However, he says this concept of spiritual warfare has a purpose. Pastor Meeks said, "We take our liberty for granted. A price was paid. So we want to assist them spiritually in prayer."( Read more... )

An interesting look into a church that practices "spiritual warfare"...sadly, this is not terribly unusual in AoG and other pentecostal churches into "deliverance ministry"/"spiritual warfare", and it is actually a big part of what is fueling the present dominionist movement (many of them that aren't blatantly Christian Reconstructionist are seeing the fight to establish dominionism as a form of "spiritual warfare", and it is actually implicit in "dominion theology"/"deliverance ministry").

The really sick and scary thing is that the members and attendees don't seem to see any contradiction whatsoever with, say, Christ being a pacifist for the most part (as I recall, the one time Jesus got *really* pissed off was with people who were using the church for their own profit--the moneylenders and people selling sacrifices and such; something tells me he probably would not much like dominionists either, but that's my two pence).

Interesting post that states that the (Eastern Orthodox) Patriarch of Iraq has told the American dominionists to "take their Bibles and go home" because they are apparently explicitly targeting not only Moslems but Eastern Orthodox for conversion (often with the same "stealth missionary" tactics used in the US--in this case, taking Iraqi kids for rides in cars and such and then prosyletising to them, even making them hold (Protestant) Bibles and taking pictures for their own fundraising efforts in the States).

This is noted because, as has been mentioned here, many have noted that there is a link between the Iraqi occupation and dominionist "end time" worldview; also, much of the "missionary" effort has apparently been from chaplains in the US Army (which has in large part, in its top leadership and often wholesale, has been taken over by dominionists (in particular AoG)...).

Interestingly, the article also mentions that dominionist groups have literally been getting "massive numbers of Bibles" together for export to Iraq as early as March 2002 "in anticipation for invasion"; also, it notes how the dominionists are actively turning Iraqis against the US (one thing not widely reported in the media--several of the people kidnapped and killed, including a South Korean national, were missionaries from dominionist denominations).

Also, apparently in several cases they are blatantly misrepresenting Eastern Orthodox Christians as Moslems in their fundraising...

The person writing the article does seem to be at least somewhat aware of dominionist groups (in particular Campus Crusade for Christ) but probably would be served in knowing additional info on how the dominionists have actively targeted the military (stuff re the AoG's hijacking of the chaplaincy system as well as info re the present mess with the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs would be extremely helpful to them in enlightening them, I think).

I would also think that this should be widely distributed to the Orthodox and Catholic communities (to show them that no, they are NOT safe from the dominionists, in fact, they're probably going to be the *next* against the wall if the dominionists get what they want)...

the city’s mightiest megachurch crests silver and blue atop a gentle slope of pale yellow prairie grass on the outskirts of town. Silver and blue, as it happens, are Air Force colors. New Life Church was built far north of town in part so it would be visible from the Air Force Academy. New Life wanted that kind of character in its congregation.

“Church” is insufficient to describe the complex. There is a permanent structure called the Tent, which regularly fills with hundreds or thousands of teens and twentysomethings for New Life’s various youth gatherings. Next to the Tent stands the old sanctuary, a gray box capable of seating 1,500; this juts out into the new sanctuary, capacity 7,500, already too small. At the complex’s western edge is the World Prayer Center, which looks like a great iron wedge driven into the plains. The true architectural wonder of New Life, however, is the pyramid of authority into which it orders its 11,000 members. At the base are 1,300 cell groups, whose leaders answer to section leaders, who answer to zone, who answer to district, who answer to Pastor Ted Haggard, New Life’s founder.( Read more... )